Been over a week.

Its been over a week since we have been back. Will join work on the 8th.

A few things that are getting me to believe I am here for good:

1. Getting a cell phone plan.

2. Getting Drivers License.

3. Set up wireless LAN at home.

4. Buying transformers for some of our 120V appliances.

5. Running around for school admissions.

A few details on each one:

1. Getting a cell phone plan. There are so many options here and advertisements all around. Thankfully my dad was able to navigate me through this very well. Finally settled on Reliance's GSM service. Got our US blackberry's 'unlocked'. The application for a post-paid plan was simple enough. The form has a fair bit of detail to fill in but you can get by without filling most of it. Submitted it yesterday (Wednesday). Got a call for verification today. Apparently address verification is a rage here and everyone does it. SIM cards are still not active yet. Hopefully they are by tomorrow otherwise it is another trip to the sales office.

2. Getting Driver's license. This broke all my resolutions of not using an agent and getting everything done myself. Went to the RTO office in Tardeo. The process is to get a learners license and after 30 days you are eligible to get a permanent license on clearing a driving test. I will be a lot of money that no person without prior experience of the place can figure out what goes on and what a person needs to do at the RTO office.

I first went to the room marker "Forms". It is right by the entrance and seemed the obvious choice. There were no forms in there. No directions on what needs to be done. Just a big empty room. Stepped into the area and it was full of cabs. Guess Taxi permits are the big business. There were a ton of windows (no fewer than 100) and rooms and each one had a line in front of it but nothing told me where I had to go.

I was approached by a couple of agents who promised to help. I wanted to see if I could get a Mumbai License based on my Colorado Drivers license. They had no clue and insisted that I go the normal learners and then permanent route. I finally approached a Agent who had a shop (not a desk) right outside the RTO office. This person was clueful. He examinsed by Colorado license and passport while I guess trying to figure out how much he could charge me. He told me it can be done and knew the process, what forms had to be filled and which officers needed to be 'approached'. It cost me a total of 2000Rs but I got my smart card license the same day. He had one of his 'boys' take me around to the right offices for passport verification, biometrices and payment.

I really don't care if I paid too much or got a good deal. I know the license fees etc is about 700Rs so the guy made 1300 off me minus any payments he had to make. Saved me a lot of time and hassle and the guy was friendly. I'll take it.

3. Setting up a wireless LAN at home: This was a little more painful than I anticipated. Took 3 hrs and a number of calls to Hathway to clear the "bindings". The worst part is the signal covers only half the house. Guess my 7 yr old US Dlink cannot penetrate the cement and brick walls of Mumbai. I've got to find a Indian wireless router and see if that has a better range. All the same, happy to have the wireless going and not being stuck to a desk to get online.

4. Buying transformers for some of our 120V appliances. At about 200-250 a piece, not bad for most small appliances. Used them so far for the wireless router, Wii, Kindle, Vtech phone...work well. Made my Maxcon. Again my dad hooked me up with these.

5. Running around for school admissions. This is the most painful part. Still not sure about where Rhea will get admission. She will turn 5 in May and go to Sr KG. The problem is that the admission in most schools is at Jr KG level and as long as the kids pass the move up. Chances of someone dropping out of school, failing or leaving is slim so there are not too many openings available. In any case, we have applications made to a few decent schools in the area and are waiting on them. Rhea had an interview at one of them on Tuesday and we expect to hear from them next week.

So far things have been good. I am walking a whole lot more than in Denver and also getting the hang of the buses. The AC buses are absolutely the best in traffic. Quiet and smokefree.

The first 24 hours

Got home by about 3AM. I was tired since I had slept only for an hour on the flight.

I still cannot believe that I have returned to India for good. The feeling is just not sunk in. Feels like a vacation from which I will return in a few days. It will take time. The last time I felt hard to accept something was after my marriage. It took a while for it to sink in that Dipti and I were married though we were living together. Guess this will be similar. It will take time to accept this.

I had made a list on the flight of things that I need to do in the next 10 days before I start work. Things I made some progress on today

· Rhea’s school admission. Need to go and talk at the schools where we are interested. Dipti will be leading this and I will follow along.

· Change bank account from NRE to savings. Turns out that I cannot change my ICICI NRE account to saving designation. I will have to close my NRE account and get a DD with the amount in it, open a new savings account and deposit the DD into it. Sounded silly to me but I’ve dealt with worse. Haven’t done this since I have a transfer pending into the NRE account. Got 5-star treatment at the branch after I told them that I wanted to find out about some of their other investment services etc also.

Random things:

· I realized that the crystalline sugar here tastes so much different than the powdered sugar in the US. No idea why the thought stuck with me.

· The highway outside our apartment complex gets a big thumbs up. The traffic is still there, but the encroachments have been cleaned and there is now a footpath (I almost wrote sidewalk) there.

· The ICICI branch I went to was near Chembur station. I have forgotten almost everything about the area. And this was a place we spent a fair bit of time when in college.

At the Airport

Feb 25th, 2010. 1:30AM or so..

The plane arrived at Mumbai a few minutes before time. Since it was only about 40% full, immigrations was quick. The officer at the counter expected us to know what he needed and in what order. It would have taken less time for both of us if only he could have said, “ I need the passports with the disembarkation form in each one”.

Baggage and customs clearance was easy thanks to some help through someone we knew. Not that we had anything to hide, but it was good to have 3 people with trolleys waiting on you J.

The person helping us also asked that we buy as much Chevas as we can with our duty-free allowance. He paid for it out of his pocket. Now he may drink it or sell it. Always enterprising.

The outside of the airport was a real surprise. Clean, well maintained, spacious, a lot of seating and well lit. It was very impressive. Things were orderly. All in all, a good entry into India. Rhea said “Mumbai airport is cool”. My parents, in laws and a cousin, Prateek were there to meet us. Deepal came out of the airport 3 minutes after we did and shocked everyone. We were soon on our way home in 2 cars and a cab (with a ‘carrier’ that carried the bulk of our bags).

What is this about

This blog is about my move from US to India after 8.5 years there. Though I am coming back home, I am leaving the place where I first experienced independent and responsible life, got my first real job, spent the first 6 years after my marriage, had my kids...basically all my adult life so far.I leave Denver with a lot of good memories. This blog is about my experiences coming back home after being away for a long time.